The annual Festival Choral Eucharist for Reformation Service will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, in Weaver Chapel, featuring The Rev. Dr. William O. Gafkjen, Bishop of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as the 2019-2020 Wittenberg Series continues. Music for the event begins at 7 p.m. with a performance by the Wittenberg Choir.
Gafkjen was installed as bishop of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the ELCA in 2010 and re-elected to a second six-year term in 2016. Prior to his election as bishop, Gafkjen served as an assistant to the bishop for the Indiana-Kentucky Synod, which is one of 65 synods in the United States and the Caribbean that comprise the ELCA.
Ordained in 1985, Gafkjen has served as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Mora, Minnesota; Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Niles, Michigan; Lutheran Campus Ministry at Pennsylvania State University in State College; Evangelical Lutheran Church in Duncanville, Pennsylvania; and Christ the King Lutheran Church in South Bend, Indiana.
Bishop Gafkjen was born in Canada and raised in Minnesota, where he earned a B.A. from St. Olaf College and a Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary in St. Paul. He earned a Doctor of Ministry – Gospel and Culture from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. He and his wife, Janet, are the parents of two children.
Now in its 37th year, the Wittenberg Series brings distinguished lecturers and performing artists of national and international prominence to the Wittenberg campus and Springfield community. To make special arrangements, request a Series poster, or become a friend of the Wittenberg Series, contact Lisa Watson at WatsonL4@wittenberg.edu. All Wittenberg Series events are free and open to the public. Doors open 30 minutes prior to the beginning of each lecture or performance. Below are further details related to this year’s Series.
2019-2020 Wittenberg Series Events:
- Friday, Dec. 6: Lessons and Carols for Advent and Christmas, 7:30 p.m. (pre-service music begins at 7 p.m.), Weaver Chapel.
- Monday, Jan. 20, 2020: Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation, 11:15 a.m., Weaver Chapel, featuring Freeman A. Hrabowski III, educator, advocate, mathematician, and president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Q & A, 2:45 p.m., 105 Joseph C. Shouvlin Center for Lifelong Learning.
- Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020: Comedy and improv show featuring The Second City, 7:30 p.m., John Legend Theater at The Dome, 700 South Limestone Street. For mature audiences.
- Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020: Allen J. Koppenhaver Literary Lecture, 7:30 p.m., Weaver Chapel, featuring Charles M. Blow, journalist, commentator, and New York Times op-ed columnist. Q & A, 4:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium.
- Monday, March 30, 2020: William A. Kinnison Endowed Lecture in History, 7:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium, featuring Eric H. Cline, author, historian, and professor of classics, history, and anthropology at George Washington University.
For more information on the Wittenberg Series, click here.
